borimex

Hyperventilation... I guess that was it. I remember saying that to myself... Breathe harder!! I'll keep that in mind. Thanx for the most serious answer hehe. About the pneumothorax... It can be caused by a barotrauma... same as with scuba diving it can happen as a result of a person going from hi to low pressure or the other way around. That only if it was spontaneous and not caused by a trauma or another medical condition. Firstime sent me an info about a University that is doing research on the effects of a first tandem jump on people, obviously from a medical perspective. The link for this is http://skydivelongisland.com/sunystudy.shtml too bad I don't live nearby cuz they give free tandem jumps to people who are willing to participate. Interesting study. Like this guy said food for thought. I already asked a doctor about this issue. I noticed he didn't have the right info cuz he really didn't answer my question. I have to do a research paper I'm thinking about linking it with skydiving or better said "The effects of the sympathetic stimulation caused by a real stress situation such a freefall from an airplane" (quoting somebody who wrote on this thread) Then I would then have the perfect excuse to go jump all weekends. As long as the fart issue goes... I have only made 6 jumps and managed not to fart in the airplane. I guess it will happen someday. Poor of those who jump with me the day that happens. It would be cool to be able to take the blood pressure, pulse and adrenaline levels of a person about to jump. In that instant the door opens and you know your going down.

I AM a med student who just started the physiology course about a month ago (second semester, still a long road ahead)... Probably the reason why I can't answer the question by myself. But that makes sense, hypoxia and heart rate elevates to compensate for the oxygen needs... Obviously I know my heart rate will elevate because im stressed and excited but I noticed it went up too high... I felt breathless for a moment... I really dont know to what extent I should find out more about this... or if I should worry!! There is another factor here, I'm in Mexico, its very elevated from sea level... I calibrate my altimeter before we jump and we jump at 9,000 feet but the real altitude is approx 12,000!! I noticed a difference in jumping from Puerto Rico than jumping from here. Am I making sense??

First of all sorry if I can't make myself clear, english is my second language... second I know I'm not qualified to give you advice but... I just want to SHARE MY EXPERIENCE with you. I have made 4 AFF jumps and ironically I landed perfectly on my first 3 jumps. My first AFF jump I was guided by my instructor to land by radio. The thingS that worked for me during this jump was remembering... 1. Relax, 2. Don't flare too high (in order to land), 3. Once you pull the flares is better to keep them pulled than letting them go cuz you will fall faster, and if you are close to the ground, that might hurt, 4. Land against the wind... In my second AFF jump the radio failed and I was all by myself... I just had confidence in what I was doing and I landed perfectly on my feet running!!! By my 3rd jump the radio was working again but I was trusting my instincts more than listening to the radio... Consecutively landing better each time until my last AFF... When I was preparing for landing I noticed I was a little bit far to make it to the landing area... I tried to make it but there was a fence that seemed pretty scary from where I was. I was there against the wind getting ready but suddenly I realized that there was a chance of me hitting the fence and decided to make a 180 turn at about 800Ft. By that time I was going with the wind... I did everything good but landing with the wind gave me some extra forward movement that was hard to deal when I touched the ground... Consequently I fell... Nothing serious!! But anyways it was worth it!! Now I know the importance of landing against the wind... And about the height perception... Try analyzing somebody else landing... try to visualize the physics involved in landing and try to see at approx. what altitude your instructors flare in order to land.. That helped me a lot too. Keep in mind that most skydiving accidents occur during landing so it is very important to have your helmet and a suit to prevent accidents. Ohh and I almost forgot... No turns at low altitude!! Trust your instincts... If your instincts tell you it is going to hurt, IT PROBABLY WILL!!

I was wondering... Obviously you have to be in good health conditions to be able to skydive... but what are the implications of skydiving to the human body? Im a med student and curious about it. Does going 13,000 k feet in the air has any implication? Does the change in pressure affect something? Is there any major concern when breathing up so high?? I'm so curious about this because me heart rate seriously increases just before jumping from the aircraft... PD. I already know the physical implications of landing without a parachute.

Well guys I jumped and everything went really smooth. They changed the ADD for the parachute I use. It was a Cypress 2 before but they changed it to another ADD, I sincerely dont know the brand, I just know it said NOVICE after turned on. I did my 3rd and 4th AFF jump and in the 4th one the instructor let me go in the air and I went all by myself. It was an awesome feeling. Thanks god I was able to maintain a good position and the opening went really smooth... No hard openings or line twists. Anyways I was so relieved when I saw they changed the ADD. I did my 1st and 2nd AFF about February 5th and by yesterday they had already changed the ADD, lucky for me I found a great DZ here in Mexico... I asked the instructor about the other ADD and he told me that since it turned the NOW they immediately replaced it to give it maintenance. So after all they didn't lie to me and they did it. I felt really safe yesterday because my main chute was folded not by the people who normally do but by the instructor and he is the one certified to fold the reserve parachute... probably the one with the most experience there... Well guys any advice, tip, suggestion will be greatly appreciated!!!

Wooooa! Well today is the day, I'm just about to leave to the DZ. The NOW message was displayed about a month ago and I haven't jumped since so the conclusion about this issue is that I will check the status of the ADD before jumping and if I still see the the NOW message then that's a bad sign for me. If they are a good DZ they should already have done the necessary maintenance. If not, I'm screwed because that's the nearest DZ around were I am. Wish me luck!!! What I'm going to do is that I'm going to take a PICTURE of the entire gear and I'll upload it when I get back. Thanx everyone!!

First of all thanks everyone for the input. Actually it is a Cypress 2. I just forgot the name. It looks exactly as the picture in the link above. The instructor told me the same thing, that the ADD needed maintenance soon. But anyways I was just double checking that. About the safety of the DZ... I'm not an expert but I can tell when things are done right. They make me check everything before jumping... The harness, they make me watch as they fold the chute, they make me turn on the ADD, check the pilot, etc. double check that everything is fine, and also I am very curious about everything. One of the instructor has more than 11,000 jumps and the other worked in training for the military. I guess the know what they are doing. Anyways I checked the DZ ratings you have here but that DZ is practically new and is not listed there. It is located in Tototlan, Jalisco, Mexico. Their name is Skydyve Guadalajara. If anyone knows any info about this DZ please let me know. Any other suggestions/tips to take the most of my AFF training? Ohh I almost forgot... The first jump was with two instructors holding me but the second one was only with one of them. Is that supposed to be that way?? They even told me that if everything worked fine they would stop holding m in the air by the 4th or 5th jump. What do you guys think of that? I think I do it pretty well. My previous 2 jumps were really smooth but SECURITY FIRST, I want to know what experienced people think about this!!

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Greetings to all of you skydivers. My name is Xander and I am new to the sport. I did my first tandem jump in January back in Puerto Rico. I did a second tandem in Mexico just to make sure this was for me and guess what? I LOVE IT! I quickly became addicted to it and tomorrow I'll do my 3rd, 4th and hopefully the 5th level of the AFF training. The first two went really good. Anyways, last time I jumped I noticed the ADD when turned on had a display message that said NOW. I asked my instructor about it and he told me that the date for maintenance was getting close but he told me that I didn't have to worry about it. The thing is that I read somewhere that an ADD could open spontaneously. I'm a little bit worried that it opens my reserve chute while I already have my principal chute open. Is this something that could happen? What does the NOW on the ADD means? If tomorrow I turn on the ADD and it says NOW, should I still jump? Sorry for my english, as you probably noticed its not my first language. Saludos a todos los paracaidistas hispanohablantes, en especial a aquellos que viven en Guadalajara, MX o en Puerto Rico.